Clinical Genetics

Clinical Geneticists are Doctors whose specialist expertise is in the recognition and diagnosis of genetic diseases. Clinical Genetics is about the diagnosis, management and counselling of patients and families who are affected by a genetic condition. Clinical Genetics provides a service for individuals or families who have, or are at risk of having, a genetic disorder.

Patients attending the clinic may be well themselves but want to understand more about a condition in their family and how it might impact upon them. More commonly, patients come because they have no diagnosis and are seeking investigation with a view to establishing if a diagnosis is possible.

Genetic disease can be difficult to identify. Many of the patients seen in Dr. Reardon’s clinic have presented to other clinics with problems such as

Infertility,

Abnormality on fetal ultrasound,

Congenital malformation, (this means abnormalities present at birth),

Mental retardation

Autism and Learning Difficulties

Chromosomal Disorders

Not all such patients will have an unrecocgnised genetic disorder, although many will be shown to have on expert investigation. The purpose of attending Dr. Reardon’s clinic is often to establish whether there is a genetic basis for a condition in an individual and whether that can be formally proven by genetic investigation.

One of the main benefits of a Genetic Diagnosis is that it facilitates predictive testing in other family members. One of the most common requests for this service is during pregnancy, known as Prenatal Diagnosis.

Genetic counselling involves the transmission of accurate information to individuals and families on foot of secure diagnosis.

Dr. Reardon has been practicing Clinical Genetics since 1988 and has a very broad ranging experience in clinical practice of inherited conditions, most of which are individually rare.